Esther Rantzen on 50 years in TV after thinking she ‘wasn’t attractive enough’

Fifty years ago today a young TV researcher called Esther Rantzen made her debut in front of the camera. It was the start of a stellar career that would help 4.5 million children at risk of abuse through Childline, reunite child survivors of the ­holocaust with the man who saved them, highlight organ donation, expose paedophiles and crooks – as well as giving the nation 21 years of laughs on That’s Life! But modest Dame Esther says the viewers made it happen. “I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity for so long and to still be making programmes,” she says. “It is challenging and exciting and it has been for 50 years, never a dull moment as they say. “I was lucky to start off in the consumer programme Braden’s Week, which relies on the viewers telling you their stories and believing that you will value them and be able to tell other people these stories that are crucial either because they are funny or because they change people’s lives.” Esther was 28 years old when she was thrust before the camera in what was very much a man’s world. “I’d been a researcher working behind the scenes, so studios were familiar, they were home to me,” she recalls. “But I didn’t think for a minute I’d be presenting 50 years later. I sat next to my lovely friend John Pitman and we clutched each other’s knees. We were quite frightened and thought we’d be found out within… [Read full story]